TRIP TO VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON

Patty and Donna

Donna took me to the WALA conference
in Vancouver, WA.  WALA stands for "Washington
Association for Learning Alternatives".  It was held
in the Heathman Lodge. It was a very nice hotel.
Patty is the teacher we took with us.  We had to
leave a little after 6am on Thursday Feb. 27th.  Patty
lives in Forks so she came and spent the night. We
drove back home on Saturday, March 1st.

I really enjoyed going. It was fun to see all the
activity going on.  Donna had so many meetings to
go to and other things she had to do that she was
busy right up to bedtime.

I sat in on a couple of the classes.  I sat in on
the class Donna was conducting.  She did a
great job.

Friday night was the Banquet dinner and a silent
auction.  I bid on a set that had a huge jar of handcream
and hand soap.

Patty bid on a bath set and gave it to me.

Also, I bought myself something from the gift shop.
It is a clock, thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer
all in a nice stand-up wood unit.  The thermometer
is a water filled tube along the side.  It has what
look like 5 large bubbles.  You can tell the temperature
by how the bubbles move up or down. Each bubble has
a temperature tag on them. The printing is quite small
but I have them memorized already.

Inside the Heathman Lodge

Donna conducting a class for the Region 3 meeting



Donna was one of the people at the registration desk

HUMMING BIRDS

Spring must be on the way.  The Humming birds are feeding almost every day now.  There is a pair of them.  David took this picture of one of the Humming birds feeding.  I have the feeder right outside the sliding glass door.  It is so much fun to watch them.

There are a lot of other birds in the yard from time to time now.  Also a few days ago, the deer were in the backyard too.  The deer stayed a long time eating grass and lying around just like they lived here.

Besides the wildlife, I get a good view of downtown and across the water.  Sequim is really a beautiful place to live in.

VISIT WITH DIANE

Dresses for Dish Detergent bottles

Diane spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday with us.  Diane went to Church with me on Sunday.  We had to go early because I work in the Library.  Monday Diane, David and I went to Port Angeles to Joanne's Fabric.  I saw this Crochet Book that has skirts that go over your dish detergent bottles.  There were a number of different designs..They were so cute.  Part of the skirt is knitted and part of it is crocheted. The skirt is actually a dish cloth to wash your dishes with.  We bought the cotton yarn and the needles and the crochet hook.  Diane was already starting one when we were in the car.  Also we went to Big Lots and bought a few things.  After we went to Big Lots we went back to Sequim and ate at the 1-0-1 Diner for lunch.

Diane, bless her heart, spent so much time helping me with my Windows 8.  Everything is working so much better now, that is better for Windows 8.

I have not seen Diane for a long time.  I was happy she could come for a visit.

HOUSE SITTING PLANTS

Christmas Cactus on the left.  The poinsettia belongs to Donna 

An Orchid Plant

 

I had to do another post to be sure the I could put pictures on both my laptop and my new Windows 8 computer.  I have been taking care of the Christmas Cactus and the Orchid plant since the early part of November.  The plants belong to Marge and George, our neighbors.  They have a really nice motorhome and they spend the winter in California and Arizona.  The plants were not blooming when they left but you can see they are blooming nicely. I hope I can continue to keep them alive until Marge and George get back the end of February.

END OF THE YEAR POST

 

Main Street in Buckley, Washington

 

 

This is a few lines to let you know I am still around.  I have been having a hard time putting pictures on my blog since I changed to Windows 8.  Diane came to Seattle so she could spend some time with her grandchildren.  Diane came over this afternoon to Sequim and will be spending the weekend with David and me.  She helped me get the pictures figured out. 

 

  

David had to go to Alaska for some meetings the first part of December.  The day before he left we drove to Buckley.  We went through Bonney Lake and Enumclaw too.  In Buckley we went to the Museum.  The building the Museum is in was the Church building that we used to go to when we lived in Buckley.  The Museum has so many interesting displays.  We had a nice visit with the volunteers and even the Mayor of Buckley stopped by.

 

We had a very nice Thanksgiving.  Steven and Janet and their children spent Thanksgiving week here, which was very nice.  We had a great Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Marge and Harry invited us to Christmas dinner at their retirement center.  It was so nice to visit with them.  The dinner was very nice.

LIVING THROUGH MODERN MEDICINE

A picture of the Sunset here in Sequim

I just put the picture on because I liked it.  The reason for my blog is to let everyone know what is going on with me.

I know that I had written earlier about my bout with Bronchitis back in the middle of August.  I have been to the doctor three times.  I had a breathing test which was abnormal.  I have been on two kinds of inhalers and have been using a Nebulizer.  When I went on Flovent I was doing much better but I still was short of breath just doing the simplest tasks. It has been nearly three months since I have not been winded to some degree.  Some days were worse than others depending on what I did.

Finally Wednesday I was able to see the Pulmonary Specialist.  He put me on Symbicort.  Symbicort is for Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis and COPD.  This is a miracle drug.  Yesterday I woke up and was not winded at all.  Going up the stairs and going for a short walk and doing a few other things and I was breathing just fine.  I was so used to being winded that all day I kept expecting to get short of breath, but I didn't.

Today I went to the store and carried a couple of heavy bags downstairs, did laundry, baked cookies.  I cleaned my Microwave.  A couple of weeks ago I would have been lucky to do just one of those things.

I have a follow-up appointment with the Specialist in May.  I am supposed to call if I have any problems before then.

The Specialist says I have Asthma and I could have a bad spell if something triggers it such as a bad cold or Bronchitis or something I might be allergic to. I am sure I have had Asthma for sometime without realizing it.

I just cannot say enough about Symbicort.  Symbicort has given me back my energy.  It is indeed a miracle drug.  The downside is that it is very expensive.  One inhaler lasts one month and costs $319.00.  Thanks to my dear Clayton who was a longshoreman for over 25 years, I have wonderful insurance.  I only pay $1.00.  I wonder how many people could benefit by it and not be able to get it because of the cost.

OLD PICTURE

Christopher, Katie and Anna

I put this sweet picture on because I was testing out my blog on my computer downstairs.  I have been having trouble getting pictures on my blog and have had to go upstairs to my laptop to put pictures on. Everything seems to be working now. This picture is from August 2012.  It reminds me of how much I love Summer. David is sitting in the chair. You can see his arm.